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OPERATORS France

Paris, world capital for film

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The leading cinematographic city in the world is Paris, with its 380 cinemas, an audience of more than 30 million in 2002 and box office takings of almost €200 million. The French capital is trying to hold on to its leadership by supporting independent cinema operators and improving its summer festival, Paris Cinéma, the second edition of which will take place between June 30 and July 13, 2004. This positive news was announced by Christophe Girard, the assistant to the mayor for cultural matters and Régine Hatchondo, from Ville Lumière’s “cinema mission”, during a press conference held on November 18.

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Paris, with its annual cinema audience of 30 million is ahead of Berlin (an audience of 12.5 million) and Rome (11.5). The French capital is continuing its love affair with cinema, especially given that it has registered less of a drop in audiences in 2002 (only down 3%) than suffered in the rest of the country (-9%). To reinforce this trend, on October 15 Paris signed a “covenant for film development” with the State and the Centre National de la Cinématographie. In addition, the local administration is giving a contribution to independent cinemas: €610,000 for equipment and programming as part of a plan to promote quality films. There will also be a further series of reduced ticket promotions, like the “three days three Euros” initiative at the end of August (registering an audience of 360,000), “Paris, capital of art house cinema” in October and “Cinema by the light of the moon” during the summer (61,000 people).
The film specialists in the municipality also stress the importance of the institutional cinemas like those of the Film Archive, the Pompidou centre or the Forum des images, which are attended by 300,000 a year. In 2003 the city of Paris has a budget of €10.4 million for cinema and it is determined to continue its tradition of putting on a wide-ranging showcase of films. The city is also planning to simplify the administrative procedures for shooting movies in the capital (standing at 9 films a day).

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(Translated from French)

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